404 F.

2d 1092

Larry G. LINEBARGER, Appellant,

v.
STATE OF OKLAHOMA and Ray H. Page, Warden,
Appellees.
No. 9892.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

Dec. 10, 1968, Certiorari Denied March 24, 1969, See 89
S.Ct. 1218.

Mac Oyler, Oklahoma City, Okl., for appellant.

Charles L. Owens, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, Okl. (G. T.
Blankenship, Atty. Gen. of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief),
for appellees.
Before LEWIS, HILL and SETH, Circuit Judges.
HILL, Circuit Judge.

Appellant, a state prisoner, takes this appeal from an order, entered after an
evidentiary hearing, denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Appellant was tried by a jury and convicted of second degree burglary in the
state district court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma. As a result of appellant's prior
criminal record the jury, acting pursuant to the state habitual criminal statute,
assessed the punishment at an indeterminate sentence of from five to fifteen
years in the state penitentiary. Following an unsuccessful appeal to the
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Linebarger v. Oklahoma, 420 P.2d 918
(Okl.Cr.App.1966), and a similarly unsuccessful petition for state habeas
corpus relief, Linebarger v. Page, 429 P.2d 540 (Okl.Cr.App.1967), a writ of
habeas corpus was sought in the federal district court. An evidentiary hearing
was held primarily to determine whether the state prosecutor had commented
as to the appellant's failure to take the witness stand to testify in his own behalf
at the trial. Concluding that the alleged improper remark had not been made,
and that the other contentions were equally without merit, the court denied the

writ and dismissed the petition prompting this appeal.

3

Because of the fact that the closing arguments to the jury in the original trial
had not been recorded, appellant produced various witnesses at the evidentiary
hearing in an attempt to establish that the state prosecutor had directed the
jury's attention to appellant's failure to take the stand.1 To this end, the
appellant, his father, his mother, his sister, his former wife and two of the state
trial jurors, testified that they thought they remembered the prosecutor pointing
his finger at the appellant and exclaiming: 'Larry Gail Linebarger, why don't
you take the stand in your own defense? Because you know you are guilty.'
Appellant's retained counsel testified that he did not recall the alleged incident.
He was convinced that had it occurred he would have instantly recognized such
a blatant error and would have then called in a court reporter in order to
preserve the statement in the record. The state prosecutor categorically denied
having made the statement. The district court, noting that the trial judge was an
experienced jurist who would not have allowed such conduct, concluded that
the testimony of the appellant, his relatives and the two somewhat uneducated
jurors2 was lacking in persuasion. The court thus determined that the alleged
improper conduct had not taken place.

The finding that the improper statement was not made is a finding of fact which
is, as are all similar findings of fact by the district court after the holding of an
evidentiary hearing, to be sustained unless clearly erroneous.3 It is also well
recognized that in these circumstances an appellate court will not weigh
conflicting evidence or pass upon the credibility of witnesses.4 Applying these
principles to the present case, it follows that this court is not left with a definite
and firm conviction that a mistake had been committed and therefore the
district court decision must stand.

Admittedly the court quite improperly indicated that the decision was based in
part upon the absence of any action by the experienced state trial judge which
the court felt would have ensued had the alleged incident occurred. It cannot be
gainsaid that any reliance upon the competency of the presiding judge is wholly
inappropriate. Nonetheless, it is apparent that the finding that the statement was
not made, was not the result of a misplaced reliance upon a personal knowledge
of the qualifications of the trial judge, but rather resulted from the express
denials by both trial counsel and the court's assessment of the persuasiveness of
the testimony of the witnesses for the appellant. It is obvious that most of
appellant's witnesses did not comprehend the significance of recalling the exact
phrasing employed in making the alleged statement. One witness specifically
admitted upon crossexamination that the prosecutor might merely have said
that the evidence was overwhelming in view of the fact that the defense had

been unable to offer any contradictory evidence. It follows that the trial court's
determination as to the credibility to be given the testimony of the appellant,
his relatives and the jurors, together with the firm denials by both trial counsel
constitutes a sufficient basis to support the finding that the improper remarks
were not in fact spoken.
6

During the course of charging the jury as to the law to be applied in

determining the appropriate sentence to be meted out to the appellant, the court
instructed the jury that: 'If you assess under the Indeterminate Sentence Law,
the Pardon and Parole Board is required to review the defendant's case at the
end of the minimum term, and it will be for them to determine whether he serve
longer than the minimum term you fix.' This instruction is identical to that
given by the same trial judge in another case which was later held on appeal to
be erroneous, Carr v. Oklahoma, 417 P.2d 833 (Okl.Cr.App.1966).
Accordingly, there is little doubt that the giving of that particular instruction
was a matter that could have been cited as error upon a direct appeal to the
appropriate state tribunal. Nevertheless, habeas corpus is not available to set
aside a conviction on the basis of erroneous jury instructions unless the error
has such an effect upon the trial as to render it so fundamentally unfair that it
constitutes the denial of a fair trial in the constitutional sense.5 Because the
instruction at issue here was not such as would operate to deprive the appellant
of a fair trial, the district court was correct in concluding that a federal question
was not presented.6

As a final ground for reversal of the district court, it is argued that the court
was in error in determining that appellant was not denied the effective
assistance of counsel in derogation of the Sixth Amendment. To support this
assertion appellant cites various instances of supposed research and tactical
failings on the part of his trial counsel. It has been firmly established that to
sustain a claim of incompetent counsel it is necessary to demonstrate 'that the
representation was such as to make the trial a mockery, a sham or a farce.' 7
Here the appellant was represented by experienced counsel of his own
selection. The alleged mistakes in trial tactics and somewhat careless
preparation, even if proved, clearly did not reduce the trial to a mockery of
justice.8

Affirmed.

It is undisputed that to comment upon the accused's failure to testify in his own
behalf is violative of the Fifth Amendment. Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609,

85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965); Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87
S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)
2

Subsequent to the evidentiary hearing, appellant contacted a third state trial

juror who indicated that he too recalled the improper statement. Nevertheless, a
petition for rehearing was denied by the district court on the basis that the
testimony of additional jurors would not alter the conclusion that the remark
had not been spoken

Rule 52(a) Fed.R.Civ.P.; Carpenter v. Crouse, 389 F.2d 53 (10th Cir. 1968);
Lattin v. Cox, 355 F.2d 397 (10th Cir. 1966); Latham v. Crouse, 347 F.2d 359
(10th Cir. 1965)

Nance v. Baker, 400 F.2d 864 (10th Cir. 1968); Johnson v. United States, 380
F.2d 810 (10th Cir. 1967)

Martinez v. Patterson, 371 F.2d 815 (10th Cir. 1966); Woods v. Munns, 347
F.2d 948 (10th Cir. 1965); Alexander v. Daugherty, 286 F.2d 645 (10th Cir.
1961)

See, Pierce v. Page, 362 F.2d 534 (10th Cir. 1966)

E.g., Tafoya v. United States, 386 F.2d 537, 540 (10th Cir. 1967); Johnson v.
United States, 380 F.2d 810, 812 (10th Cir. 1967); Goforth v. United States,
314 F.2d 868 (10th Cir. 1963), cert. denied 374 U.S. 812, 83 S.Ct. 1703, 10
L.Ed.2d 1035

Cf., Edwards v. United States, 103 U.S.App.D.C. 152, 256 F.2d 707 (1958),
cert. denied 358 U.S. 847, 79 S.Ct. 74, 3 L.Ed.2d 82; Felton v. United States,
83 U.S.App.D.C. 277, 170 F.2d 153 (1948), cert. denied 335 U.S. 831, 69 S.Ct.
18, 93 L.Ed. 385. Accused persons are not guaranteed the assistance of counsel
who do not make mistakes. Odom v. United States, 377 F.2d 853 (5th Cir.
1967)